Motion-Powered Cell Phone Charger Coming SoonMotion-Powered Cell Phone Charger Coming Soon

If one company has its way, you will soon be able to keep your phone charged by going for a walk or simply moving around.

Idaho-based M2E Power said this week its kinetic-based charging technology works, and a cell phone charger will be available early next year.

The charger is pocket-sized, and the company said the technology will be able to produce about the equivalent of 60 minutes of talk time after six hours of motion. According to an overview of the technology, the power is created by using "motion-produced electromagnetic fields that are harvested, converted to electrical energy and stored for use in a variety of scalable applications."

The technology uses off-the-shelf materials, and users can plug it into a wall socket if there's not enough time to charge it through motion. The product is expected to retail for $20 to $40, the company said.

The product could provide eco-conscious users with a convenient way to charge their phones without using power from the grid. Companies like Nokia have increasingly targeted this demographic and have made their chargers more power efficient. Additionally, solar and wind-powered chargers have begun to pop up.

But developing nations could be potentially huge markets for motion-powered chargers. According to a Gartner report, customers in China, India, Africa, and the Middle East are rapidly buying cell phones, and ways to generate nongrid power could be highly coveted.

"We have received interest from 127 countries so far, including several countries in the Middle East," said a company spokesman. "We hope that our commercial partner distributes globally, but that hasn't been finalized yet."